Houston-area small-business owners ending 2018 on high note

John Cho, Senior Vice President of Empire Tools, right, talks to employee Hector Rodriguez about an order at the store on Tuesday, June 12, 2018, in Houston. ( Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle )

Photo: Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle

Small-business owners in the Houston area are reporting year-over-year revenue growth as 2018 draws to a close, and many plan to expand their businesses in the coming year, according to a Bank of America survey.

Eighty-six percent of local entrepreneurs were confident that their year-end revenue would exceed 2017, according to the fall survey of 1,000 small business owners in Houston and across the country. Looking forward, 81 percent believe their revenues will grow over the next 12 months.

Thirty-eight percent plan to hire in the next 12 months, 11 percentage points above the national average, as Houston entrepreneurs find ways to land qualified employees in a historically tight job market. But retaining employees has been a challenge, too, with turnover affecting 30 percent of Houston entrepreneurs in the last year.

More entrepreneurs were confident that the local economy would improve, 75 percent were confident in 2018 compared with 61 percent in 2017. This was the highest among business owners surveyed in 10 major cities.

"Since last year, a significantly higher number of Houston business owners are confident in their local economy, translating into strong optimism toward year-end revenue and future expansion," Elizabeth Romero, Southwest small business division executive at Bank of America, said in a news release. "While small-business owners in most other major cities are facing the challenges of a highly competitive labor market, Houston entrepreneurs are finding ways to secure the talent they need to drive continued growth."